Madhus' recipe: Chocolate burfi

I thought of making some sweet for diwali.. I tried making this Chocolate burfi and turned out to be sooo tasty. Hence im posting its recipe.. Its quick and easy to make..Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients

1.condensed milk (carnation or milkmaid) -1 tin
2. powder
3. 1/2 cup
4. butter – 1 stick or 50 gms
5. chopped & roasted nuts 100 gms
6. sugar 3/4 cup

Method:

1. Pour the condensed milk into a thick pan, add butter, sugar, cocoa powder and nuts to
the pan.
2. Stir constantly on low to medium heat till the mixture leaves the sides of the pan (say 15
mins)
3. Pour evenly into a buttered dish.
4. Allow to cool and set. Cut to pieces and serve.
5. Refrigerate if you like.

Madhu's Recipe: Vegetable kuruma

Ingredients:

1.Carrot - 1 (chopped)
2.Beans - 100 grms ( Chopped)
3.Potatoes (small) - 3 (Chopped)
4.peas 1/4th cup, cauliflower, brocoli 1/4th cup
(Cut the veggies in chunks if cooking in pressure cooker.Or else veggies will be mashed.)
5.Garlic - 1 pod
6.whole black Pepper - 1 tspn
7.Ginger - small piece
8.Big Onions - 2 (Chopped)
9.Tomatoes - 2 (chopped)
10.Chilly powder - 1 tsp
11.Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
12.Coriander powder - 2 tsp
13.Salt - To taste
14.Coriander leaves - 1 hand full
15.Garam Masala - 1/2 tspn
16.Oil 2 tblspn

Masala Items
Sombu - 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon sticks - 2 small peices
Green Cardamons - 3
Cloves - 2
Bay leaves - 1


Procedure:

1.Take a heavy bottomed vessel or pan, add oil, add the whole pepper and fry it.

2.Now add the onions , fry till golden brown, then add the chopped tomatoes.

3.Now add ginger and garlic. Can use paste also.keep it aside and let it cool.

4.Now grind the above fried items with a handfull of coriander leaves by adding little bit of water.

5.Now take another pan, add all the masala items.i.e. Sombu - 1/2 tsp,Cinnamon sticks - 2 small peices,Green Cardamons - 3,Cloves - 2,Bay leaves - 1.

6.Now add the grinded masala and fry it for 5 min.

7.Then add water as required for gravy also add turmeric powder, chilly powder, coriander powder and salt and mix well.

8.Then add the chopped vegetables.

9.Cook till the veggies are cooked. If using pressure cooker, cook it till 2 whistles.

10.Finally garnish with coriander leaves.

My Diwali sweets & savouries

This 2010diwali is special to me as I tried some sweets & snacks myself without my elders help and it turned out sooooooooooooo well.

This diwali I tried two savouries i.e. Ribbon pakoda and mullu murruku & one sweet - Boondi ladoo. The main highlight for this diwali is Ladoo. It came out in a nice shape and very tasty.

Please do try out all these bakshanams & give your valid comments.

WISH U ALL A HAPPY DIWALI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hema's recipe: "Ribbon pakoda"

Ingredients:

1) Rice flour - 2 cups

2) Moong dal - 1 cup

3) Channa dal - 1 cup

4) Asafoetida - a pinch

5)Chilli powder - 2 tbsp(adjust according to spice)

6) Salt - as required

Acessories:

1) Mullu thenkuzhal press

2) Mould

Method:

1)Dry roast the moong dal and channa dal in a kadai.

2)Take them in a plate and let it cool.

3)Now add them to a blender and grind it to a fine powder.

4)Now sieve this to a very fine powder once.

5)Take this very fine powder 1 cup and rice flour 2 cups in a bowl.

6)To this add 2 spoons ghee, asafoetida, chilli powder and salt and mix them well.

7)Meanwhile, heat oil in a kadai to deep fry.

8)After a minute or two, when the oil is just heating add 1 spoonful of this hot oil in that

that flour and mix them well once again.

9)Take a small portion from this flour separately in a bowl and make a soft dough.

10)Now when the oil is hot enough, put this dough in the "mullu thenkuzhal" mould and press it firmly in a circular motion into the oil.

11)Fry them in the low flame till crisp & golden brown.

12)Take it out in an oil strainer to remove excess oil and let it cool.

13)Repeat the same process with the remaining flour mixture.

14)Store it in an air tight container.

Hema's recipe: "Boondi ladoo"

Ingredients:

1) Gram flour - 1 cup
2) Sugar - 1.5 cups
3) Water - 1 cup
4) Cloves - 3 nos.
5) Cashews - a few
6) Oil to deep fry

Acessories:

skillet/strainer that has small holes.

Method:

1)Put the water, cloves and the sugar in pan and bring it to a boil and comes to a single thread consistency. This is the sugar syrup.

2)In a bowl, mix gram flour with water to make a smooth batter slightly thicker than dosa batter.

3)Heat oil in a kadai. Hold the skillet/strainer in one hand and the batter on the other hand.

4)Pour some of this batter onto the skillet so that the batter falls through the holes into the oil like small peppercorns.

5)Fry them till they are light golden colour.

6) Take the boondi out in a paper towel to remove excess oil and in a minute or two put them in the warm sugar syrup and mix gently.

7) Repeat the same process for the remaining batter and soak the boondi in the sugar syrup.

8)Let it be there for 10 mins so that it gets soaked well.

9)Now drain excess sugar syrup.

10)Please see that the boondi is warm and and do not let them cool.

11)Add the cashews fried in ghee to this boondi.

12)Now make small balls with ur palms from these boondi.

13)AS you finish a ladoo, put it on a plate one by one. As it cools, it will get firm.

14)Ladoos are ready to serve.

15)Store the ladoos in an air-tight container.

Hema's recipe: "Mullu thenkuzhal/Mullu murukku"

Ingredients:

1) Rice flour - 2 cups
2) Moong dal - 1 cup
3) Channa dal - 1 cup
4) Asafoetida - a pinch
5) Jeera - a few
6)Butter - 2 tbsp
7) Salt - as required


Acessories:

1) Mullu thenkuzhal press
2) Mould


Method:

1)Dry roast the moong dal and channa dal in a kadai.

2)Take them in a plate and let it cool.

3)Now add them to a blender and grind it to a fine powder.

4)Now sieve this to a very fine powder once.

5)Take this very fine powder 1 cup and rice flour 2 cups in a bowl.

6)To this add 2 spoons butter, asafoetida, jeera and salt and mix them well.

7)Meanwhile, heat oil in a kadai to deep fry.

8)After a minute or two, when the oil is just heating add 1 spoonful of this hot oil in that
that flour and mix them well once again.

9)Take a small portion from this flour separately in a bowl and make a soft dough.

10)Now when the oil is hot enough, put this dough in the "mullu thenkuzhal" mould and press it firmly in a circular motion into the oil.

11)Fry them in the low flame till crisp & golden brown. Ensure medium-low heat.

12)Take it out in an oil strainer to remove excess oil and let it cool.

13)Repeat the same process with the remaining flour mixture.

14)Store it in an air tight container.


Tips & cautions for a perfect & crispy murukku:

1)Instead of adding direct gram flour, if u follow this method the murukku will be crisp & soft.
2)The dough should not be neither very soft nor very hard.
3)The hot oil is added to make the murukku very taste & crisp.
4)After making each murukku, try to make the dough i.e. mixing the flour with water as this avoids turning murukku brown.

Hema's recipe: Chakka Pradhaman/jackfruit payasam

Chakka pradhaman is a traditional keralite recipe. It is usually done by keralites on Vishu.

The main highlight of this recipe is jaggery and coconut milk. It tastes so delicious and the aroma from these 3 ingredients i.e. jackfruit, jaggery and coconut milk is just great.

I learnt this recipe from my mother-in-law. Coming from a kerala origin, she does it so well that I grabbed it from her.


INGREDIENTS:

1) Jackfruit pieces - 10
2) Jaggery - 1/2 cup (add according to the jackfruit paste)
3) Coconut milk - 1/4 cup
4) Cardamom powder - 1 tbsp
5) Cashews - a few
6) Raisins - a few
7) Ghee - 1 tbsp

METHOD:

1) Take the Jackfruit pieces, cut each of them into small pieces and grind them into a fine paste.

2) In a thick bottomed vessel, add required amount of water and when it comes to a boil, put the grated jaggery and let it melt.

3) Now add the grounded jackfruit paste and let it cook till the raw smell goes off.

4) When it starts to bubble, add the coconut milk.

5) Cook for couple of minutes and switch off the flame.

6) Meanwhile, heat the pan with 1 tbsp ghee and fry cashews and raisins & keep it aside.

7) Add cardamom powder, cashews and raisins.

8) Serve hot.